Israel Matzav

Is the US forcing Israel not to respond to the Kassams?

Israel's 'security cabinet' met today and decided not to respond to the continued firing of Kassams from the Gaza Strip onto communities in the Negev. Instead, our incompetent government has decided on a public relations offensive:

Ministers said the government wants to explain to the world how the unchecked smuggling has turned Gaza into a budding Lebanon.

The Cabinet decided not to take a stand on whether to okay or nix a ground offensive against counter-terrorists.

"Iran is building a ‘Hamastan’ in Gaza. . . . Iran is involved in supporting both the Islamic factions and Fatah. . . . Today, at least 40 percent of Fatah’s different fighting groups are also paid by Hizbullah and Iran,” Shalom Harari, of the Interdisciplinary Center in Herzliya, recently noted.

"If Israel again attacks deep into Gaza, Hamas hopes to confront it with something like what was seen in southern Lebanon--reserves of Hizbullah dug in deep under the earth. They have air conditioning experts for the underground tunnels they are constructing.... They have experts for every field connected to the development of weapons and rockets," added Brig.-Gen. Harari.

"In Gaza there are between 80,000 and 100,000 automatic rifles and machine guns. This is the most [heavily] armed people in the Middle East except for Somalia. In 2006, thirty tons of TNT were brought into Gaza," Harari said.

"The IDF will have to enter Gaza in a very wide-scale operation in the next year, if not in the next six months. . . . The big question is whether to do it now or wait, like Israel did in Lebanon--and look at the results."

But DEBKAfile is reporting that the government has had its hands tied behind its back: by the United States.

Lt. Gen. Keith G. Dayton, US security coordinator, sought and obtained instructions from Washington forbidding Israel to launch a ground offensive or any other major military operation in Gaza.

To hold the Israeli government to this directive, the Bush administration will be sending a military delegation to Israel this week, to survey the damage caused by the Palestinian missiles and draw up guidelines for dealing with them.

Olmert’s assent to the US government determining what form the IDF’s response to the Palestinian missile blitz from Gaza should take has left Israel’s security and military establishments aghast and deeply troubled. They are furious at being summoned to a phony debate in the cabinet Sunday, purportedly for a hearing at long last of their plans to quell the threats building up from Gaza.

And this is yet another reason why Olmert must go. He's too weak to stand up to anybody, except for the revenants of course. Having a 0% approval rating is no way to run a country.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:46 PM